The Prosecutor’s Office’s Proposal Chapter 174

While I hesitated for a moment, remembering to retrace Prosecutor Joo’s recent behavior, he wore a leisurely smile at the corners of his mouth.

“I thought you would.”

After awkwardly holding the straw in my mouth and sipping my coffee, I left the rest area with Prosecutor Joo.

The air wrapped around my body was extremely hot, as the exhaust from countless cars mixed with the heat of the sun, but the shade provided by the straw hat on my face was quite cool. I didn’t like that Prosecutor Joo had disappeared without saying a word, but I was quite satisfied with the hat. Perhaps because it all showed on my face, his thick fingers tugged firmly at the brim of the hat before letting it go.

“Do you like the hat?”

“Yes. I plan to wear it at the beach, too.”

“Good. So your face doesn’t burn. Looking at you, your skin is so fair that you’re the type to turn red and get scorched. You don’t tan—you burn.”

“That’s right. Oh, by the way, I got a message from Section Chief Kim earlier, but I forgot to reply. I’ll send a text real quick.”

As soon as I took out my phone and started to struggle to type a reply with one hand, Prosecutor Joo immediately snatched the phone away. He looked down at the text Section Chief Kim had sent, sighed, and put it back in my pocket.

“Don’t reply. You’re on vacation, so let him handle it on his own.”

It was an instruction not typical of a workaholic. If Section Chief Kim messed things up, the person who would be most stressed would be Prosecutor Joo.

“If Section Chief Kim makes a mistake, it ends up taking away your time, Prosecutor.”

“It’s fine.”

“And it’s difficult to ignore the message. He’s my senior.”

“If it’s uncomfortable for you to ignore it, at least don’t send it right away. He’ll get into bad habits.”

“People will say I’m selective about who I talk to. I also want to get along well with my colleagues.”

“As if rumors will go away just because you’re being careful, Mr. Lee Chaeha.”

A look of regret flashed at the end of his crooked remark. He had been trying to soften his tone since we started dating, but whenever something didn’t suit his temperament, sharp expressions often popped out. It seemed to be due to the incident in his childhood and his profession as a prosecutor. I didn’t back down and shot back, too.

“I feel like we’re finally drifting apart from those rumors. It’s like the stabbing was a way to ward off bad luck. The gossip behind my back has decreased a bit.”

“How can you even think about joking about that incident? The person watching felt like his heart had stopped.”

I laughed awkwardly, thinking I might have gone a bit too far this time, and Prosecutor Joo flicked his index finger, sharply hitting the brim of my hat. My forehead felt sore for no reason.

After taking off the hat, running my hands through my hair to neaten it, and getting into the car that had become stiflingly hot in the short time we were away, I immediately sent the reply. Prosecutor Joo had told me to ignore it, but from my perspective, he was a senior and a colleague at the office, so it was hard to be dilatory. Moreover, I was a workaholic to some extent myself, which was another reason.

The travel route, driving once again along the road stretching straight toward the mountains, was cool. My mood even felt refreshed by the sound of ice clinking against the plastic cup and the cold temperature of the water droplets wetting the cup holder.

By the time we arrived at our destination, the East Sea finally came into view beyond the last rest area we stopped at. Both getting out at the rest area to breathe the outside air and the sight of the deep blue sea, which I rarely had the chance to see, felt so new that I suddenly felt a sense of waste regarding the countless holidays I had spent cooped up in my room or a dormitory. Of course, the reason this scenery looked so beautiful was likely because Joo Taeson was by my side.

I wanted to see the sea up close, quickly. A powerful premonition washed over me that if I dipped my feet into the cold seawater with him, I would finally be able to find the relaxation in life that I had lost.

It was a smaller place than the first rest area we visited, so there was nothing particularly special to look at. As I was coming out after buying some simple snacks at a convenience store, I discovered a smoking area.

“Go ahead and have a smoke.”

Prosecutor Joo’s gaze glanced toward the smoking area, but he soon shook his head.

“I don’t want to feel like I’m working when I’m on vacation.”

Startled, I lifted my gaze.

“Do you only smoke when you work?”

“Didn’t you know? I don’t smoke on weekends. I left both my cigarettes and lighter behind.”

“Ah… now that you mention it.”

“Pay a little more attention to me.”

“I have plenty of interest in you.”

“And an investigator should have a sharp eye. I prefer to keep my radar on even when I’m resting.”

I had never seen him go out to smoke when we spent weekends together, so why hadn’t I known? I felt a little unfairly treated because I had connected it to his job, but since it was true, I couldn’t say anything.

The hotel Prosecutor Joo had booked was near the beach. I had vaguely worried about whether the room condition would be bad since it was a hotel at a vacation spot, but it turned out to be a famous place that only I, who hadn’t traveled, didn’t know about. The resort had recently finished remodeling, so the state of the hotel room was excellent.

Since we left early in the morning and the sun was still high, we changed into the short-sleeved shirts and shorts we had packed for water activities and headed straight to the beach. We rented a beach umbrella to claim a spot and cracked open a can of cool beer. I had brought the straw hat Prosecutor Joo had bought me for fun at the rest area and was wearing it. Thanks to the straw hat, I felt like I was at a resort, and my mood felt even more refreshed.

The sea, seen up close, had a salty scent that was as vivid as its blue color. The wet, salty breeze gently lifted my bangs over and over again. After we emptied a can of beer while sharing pleasant conversation, I suggested it first.

“Let’s go dip our feet in.”

“Should I rent a tube for you?”

“I’m fine. I know how to swim.”

“Swimming in the sea is different from freshwater. First, come here. I’ll at least put some sunscreen on you.”

“If someone sees…”

“Everyone is too busy playing.”

I don’t know when he had been so thorough about things like that. Prosecutor Joo took the sunscreen out of the large black bag he had brought from the hotel, squeezed out a generous amount, rubbed it between his palms, and smeared it all over my cheeks. After applying it for a long while, he pressed down on both my cheeks and looked down at me, then let out a slight laugh.

“What should I do? It’s not working out. You’ve become a ghost.”

“How does it look?”

Prosecutor Joo took out his phone and turned on the camera. Checking my face in selfie mode, I saw that the skin was blotchy with white smears, and I burst into laughter before I knew it. It looked as if I had buried my face in a plate of flour and lifted it up. To think he applied it in such a mess—it would have been better to do it alone.

Looking at my laughing face from behind, he pressed the button and captured a photo. It contained me, smiling with a face as white as a rice cake, and him, looking down at me with his normal face, in one frame. It would be a ridiculous photo, but it seemed like a good idea to keep it as a memory.

“Where did you buy this sunscreen? There are a lot of good ones these days.”

“It’s a good one, all right. The clerk recommended it, but I think I bought the wrong one.”

“Weren’t you scammed? What did you ask for?”

“I asked for one for children. Because your skin is on the fair side, I thought it would hurt if you burned.”

After hearing that and checking, I found it was a mineral sunscreen meant for children. Flabbergasted, I burst into laughter. I leaned my back against his chest, shaking my shoulders in laughter, and then stood up again.

“Baby sunscreen leaves a heavy white cast, you know. Let me apply it.”

Prosecutor Joo became my mirror. Thanks to him holding the phone, I meticulously smoothed out the white clumps with my fingertips. I tried to squeeze some onto his hands as well, but Prosecutor Joo shook his head.

“I’m fine.”

“Apply it anyway. The sun is hot, and you’ll get burned.”

“How long do you think we’re going to be out here, anyway?”

“If it’s a hassle, I’ll apply it for you.”

That offer wasn’t rejected, so I squeezed the same white sunscreen onto my palms and rubbed it onto his face. I tried to do a good job, but the spreadability was so terrible that I immediately understood why Prosecutor Joo hadn’t been able to apply it properly. In the end, even his skin turned deathly pale. Beyond my playful laughter, which kept leaking out, the voices of young children cheering every time a wave crashed broke out sharply along with the sunlight.

We stepped out from under the umbrella and walked toward the waves together. As soon as I placed my sandal-clad feet onto the sand, which had darkened in color, the cold seawater rushed in. In an instant, icy water wet my ankles and receded. The water temperature was much lower than I had expected. Startled, I tightly clutched Prosecutor Joo’s thick forearm.

“It’s cold.”

“Can you go in? Since you’re sensitive to the cold, don’t push yourself. The East Sea is cold even in the summer.”

“Still, it’d be a waste since we came all this way, so we have to go in. Let’s go in together.”

“If Mr. Lee Chaeha is going in, I obviously have to go in, too. I’ll have to watch from the side to make sure you don’t drown.”